Free Circumcisions Coming to NYC?

In New York City, life moves a little faster than most places and so does there Doctor's. This week New York City's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has moved forward with their plan to help men at high risk of H.I.V infections get circumcisions. This comes after the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended the procedure to reduce the risk of AIDS.

While the C.D.C are still meeting to comprise a plan to implement the recommendation, New York has already taken action. This comes as no surprise since the AIDS epidemic has hit New York City the hardest in all of the United States. Dr. Thomas R. Frieden said "New York City remains the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic." Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the city's health commissioner also said, "In some subpopulations, you have 10 to 20 percent prevalence rates, just as they do in parts of Africa."

New York's plan is to speak with leaders of organizations and groups most at risk and ask them to speak to their members about circumcisions. They are also asking, Health and Hospitals Corporation, the group that runs the city's hospitals and clinics to perform the procedure at no cost to the men with no insurance. No agreement has been reached, yet. This is just the beginning of their plan to curb the AIDS epidemic in the city.

Statistic show that black men, Hispanic and men born in foreign countries are most likely not to be circumcised and even few men of Asian descent are circumcised. Those who are from a lower income household are also less likely to have had the procedure. Current estimates from the National Center for Health Statistics, show that only about 65% of infants are circumcised today.

It is not yet know what impact the procedures will have on the AIDS epidemic in the United States since the study that lead to the recommendations was done in Africa among men having sex with women and in this country we have to take into consideration that our epidemic is among men have sex with men, as well as women, and I. V drug use are among are leading causes for the spread of this disease.

(www.nytimes.com)